City of Waterloo, Wisconsin Request for Proposals Municipal Engineering Services Submission Date: December 1, 2011 @ 4:00 p.m. Issued by: Mo Hansen, Clerk/Treasurer City of Waterloo 136 N. Monroe Street Waterloo, WI 53594 920-478-3025 920-478-2021 (fax) cityhall@waterloowi.us www.waterloowi.us 1
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS To Whom It May Concern: The City of Waterloo invites qualified firms to submit Municipal Engineering Service Proposals. The City is seeking a firm to provide engineering services for a multi-year period. To receive consideration, responses must be submitted in accordance with the following instructions: 1. All response submittals shall be sealed and delivered to: City of Waterloo Attn: Clerk/Treasurer 136 N. Monroe Street Waterloo, WI 53594 2. Submit fifteen (15) copies of the Proposal by 4:00 p.m. on December 1, 2011 3. The envelope must be clearly marked PROPOSAL CONTRACT MUNICIPAL ENGINEERING SERVICES 4. Include with your submittal a cover letter addressed to Mo Hansen, Clerk/Treasurer. The cover letter should be signed by a person legally authorized to bind the firm to its submitted response. The cover letter must include the firm name along with all relevant contact information of the legal authority. 5. If you have any questions, please contact Mo Hansen, Clerk/Treasurer at 920-478-3025 or cityhall@waterloowi.us 6. The City of Waterloo reserves the right to reject any and all responses, to waive informalities, and has the right, at its sole discretion, to accept the submittal it considers most favorable to the City s interest. 2
GENERAL Introduction and Background The City of Waterloo is soliciting a Request for Proposals from engineering firms to provide general contracted engineering services to the City. The City is home to approximately 3,334 residents and is located between Madison and Milwaukee. The City is managed by a Mayor and a seven (7) member Council, and the Public Works Department is managed by a Public Works Director. The Public Works Department staff is responsible for operating and/or maintaining streets, the sanitary collection system, parks, the storm water collection system and storm water retention ponds. Waterloo Water & Light is the local public utility. The Utility -- and its engineering firm -- are responsible for the entire municipal water system, municipal electrical system, wastewater treatment plant and maintenance of sanitary lift stations. Engineering work related to these public facilities is not included as part of the contract the City intends to enter into here. See http://www.waterloowi.us for additional background information. General Statement of Duties The selected firm will provide contracted engineering services for the City. The successful firm will coordinate with the City Clerk/Treasurer or the Director of Public Works on all major activities relating to engineering services. Please note, the city reserves the right to obtain specialized engineering services as needed separate from the selected engineer, and may continue to use existing consulting engineers currently under contract with the City to complete current projects. RFP respondents must meet the following minimum requirements: 1. Demonstrative experience with public sector engineering of similar size and scope of the services being requested. 2. Assign to the City a professional civil engineer or engineering lead person who has a minimum of 5 years experience with municipal engineering projects. The assigned engineer must have solid field experience and the ability to effectively communicate with the City staff, Committees, Council, and contractors. 3. Must be a licensed civil engineer in the State of Wisconsin. 3
POTENTIAL SCOPE OF WORK This list indicates typical examples of work to be assigned. The services to be provided will be selective and as determined by the Clerk/Treasurer and the DPW Director. As specific work is requested by the City, the firm shall assign a project task number for said work and provide the City with an estimated budget for the work, and receive written approval prior to commencing. 1. Grant writing or assistance with applications as requested. 2. Surveying. 3. Street, sidewalk, curb and gutter design. 4. Sanitary sewer and lift station design. 5. Storm sewer, pond or basin design. 6. Water main, distribution, and facilities design. 7. Landscaping, park and green space design. 8. Assist with obtaining necessary permits from regulatory agencies. 9. Complete facility needs assessments as requested. 10. Assist with obtaining utility easements. 11. Assist with developer agreements. 12. Assist with the assessment process as needed. 13. Prepare and bid City projects as required. 14. Construction management and inspection as required. 15. Develop maps and Record Drawings for the City as needed by project. 16. Miscellaneous municipal engineering design as needed. 17. Attend City Council, Public Hearings, and staff meetings as required. 18. Attend monthly Plan Commission meeting serving as a voting member of the commission (meetings typically held the 4 th Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m.). 19. Provide or update City Project Manual for Typical Standard Specifications. 20. Assist City staff as needed or required. The successful firm shall be responsible for all resources necessary to deliver these services. CONSULTING ENGINEER SELECTION PROCESS The City will utilize the following general selection process in determining the most qualified and best firm to serve as consulting engineer for the City. 1. Interested parties will provide written statements of qualifications to the City based on the guidelines and information in the RFP. 2. The firm shall be duly licensed and certified to perform the professional services offered by the Proposal. 4
3. A selection committee will review and rank all Proposals based upon the criteria established in the RFP. 4. The City may request 2-3 firms to participate in an interview process to include, but not be limited to, an interview, a review of the firm s engineering fee structure, an extended check on references, etc.. 5. Based on the findings of the committee, a recommendation will be made to the City Council to award the engineering contract to the successful firm. 6. The City will then proceed to negotiate a contract with the firm selected. 7. The City reserves the right to reject any and all proposals at any time, waive minor informalities in the screening process and/or terminate the selection process at any time. PROPOSAL CONTENT Proposals shall not exceed 20 pages. The City is not interested in brochures, boilerplate filler, or general information that is not relevant to this process. The consultants responding to this RFP are advised to provide a clear and responsive approach to addressing all issues noted in this RFP. Key elements to each Proposal should include, but not necessarily be limited to, the following items (in no particular order): Firm s History: Provide a brief history of your firm. Understanding of Need: The firm should clearly state their understanding of the City s need for Consulting Engineer Services, and for the role the engineer should play for a small rural community. Specific example and insights will be useful in this section. Approach: The firm should describe their approach to serving as the engineer for a community like Waterloo, how they will communicate with the Public Works Department and the City, and what policies they will follow when interacting with the City on projects and on a day-to-day basis. Experience: The firm shall describe their experience and expertise in providing engineering services for similar communities. Experience with water, sewer, streets, storm, and general municipal engineering services is required. Please list all applicable experience. Project Team: Provide resumes of the project or support team. Describe the proposed project team for the appointed lead engineer. Describe who will be the key contacts and leaders of the team. Discuss who will interact with the City and the organizational structure that will be proposed for the Consulting Engineer. Discuss subcontractors that may be used and why their services are important. Availability: It is important that the selected Consulting Engineer be capable of responding to the City s needs in a timely manner, complete projects on time, and be an efficient resource for the 5
City. The Proposal should address the consultants approach to ensuring that the City s needs will be met by their firm. Invoice Submittals: For proper City recordkeeping it is important that the City receive invoices for service that convey detailed project information. Please include in your Proposal a template invoice that we should expect to receive from your firm for a typical municipal project (actual dollar figures can be excluded). In addition to the template invoice please indicate what services will be invoiced. As an example, will the City be charged for time spent on a phone conversation with the City; will the City be charged for faxes; email, etc.. Rates Charged for Service: Please provide a rate sheet that lists your firm s hourly charges for service for each of your firm s employees on the assigned project team, for a two year and three year period. Please include a list of rates for all potential firm staff members that may be involved on a project, as well as your charge for mileage. Identify any fees and expenses that would not be covered under this schedule but may be required in order to implement the firm s program. Failure to provide this information will result in your firm being eliminated from consideration. References: Firms shall provide a list of municipal references for which the firm has provided similar professional services. Reference information should include: 1. Name of Owner 2. Project Name 3. Contact Person & Address 4. Telephone Number 5. Firm s key personnel assigned to referenced project SELECTION CRITERIA These selection criteria will allow the selection committee to award points based on the quality of the Proposal, the firm s understanding of the City s needs, the firm s approach to the work, or any other quality about the firm s proposal that sets it apart from any others. Selection Criteria Relative Weight Appointed Lead Engineer Experience 25 Project Team Experience 20 Understanding and Approach; Quality of Proposal 15 Charges for Service 15 References 15 Proximity to Waterloo 10 Total Points 100 6
SCHEDULE OF DATES Proposal Made Public November 8, 2011 Proposals due to the City December 1, 2011 Staff/Committee review of submittals December 1 December 15 Proposal review completed by Public Works & Property Committee January 5, 2012 Notification from Clerk/Treasurer to all firms not selected for interview to be determined Committee/Staff interview at a Public Works Committee meeting (if needed) January 5, 2012 City Council meeting agenda, recommendation for approval tentative, January 19, 2012 Complete and execute a contract for service to be determined January 31, 2012 Effective date for selected firm to become municipal engineer for the City to be determined 7